Champagne $100 & Under Tasting results

“Champagne is endlessly fascinating,” said panel chair John Belsham, summing up the judges’ sense of awe when confronted by the many impressive wines in this tasting. For consistency of high quality, Champagne is unique – the result of centuries of refinement and a genius for combining tradition and innovation without losing focus. Of the 34 wines in the Under $100 category, no less than 21 were awarded four stars and above. Among them were some real bargains and for sheer brilliance, our Top 10 encouraged a range of superlatives from the judges, aptly encapsulated by Eveline Fraser. “They are much more consistent than New World sparkling wines,” she said. “They simply have another dimension.”

The associate judge (non-scoring) was Andrew Parkinson, national fine-wine and on-premise manager for Negociants NZ.

Ready to drink

Cellaring recommendations are not given for the Champagnes and sparkling wines reviewed in this issue, as they arrive on the market ready to drink. A few may surprise with longer bottle age, especially younger examples of vintage wines, but most are released with enough age already. Santé!

Top Wine Profile

Quality time

Charles Heidsieck was only 29 when, in 1851, he founded the Champagne house that bears his name. By all accounts, ambitious “Champagne Charlie” was a showman, a dandy and an adventurer, infected by a wanderlust that saw him pioneer the American market for Champagne. His wine became a benchmark with quality that lived up to its hype, but many ownership changes affected its status. In 1985, Remy-Cointreau reappointed highly respected former chef de cave (chief winemaker) Daniel Thibault. He upped the quality, insisting on the use of 40 per cent of older reserve wines in the non-vintage blend without increasing its price (no other Champagne house in this price range uses anywhere near as much of these enriching reserves). Tragically, Thibault died in 2002, but his legacy continued. In 2011, private owners took the helm and further fillips to the quality credentials have come in the form of an even more rigorous selection of base wines, a sleek new bottle and an elegant new label. It all adds up to a worthy winner.